Talking Broadway Musicals, from Aaron Sorkin’s Meh ‘Camelot’ to Outstanding ‘Parade’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’ Revivals

By Seth Freilich | Miscellaneous | May 17, 2023 |

New York being “the greatest city in the world” is overhyped nonsense. The only thing NYC has over all other cities is being home to the best English language theater.* I recently returned from an annual trip to NYC, where I try to cram in as much theater viewing as possible to scratch my long-gestating and frequently subdued theater kid itch. While I managed to see ten shows over the course of a week, that’s barely a drop in the bucket — right now there are about 34 shows (plays and musicals) running on Broadway, with another 60-or-so Off-Broadways shows, and even more small shows behind those. So don’t take this as any sort of “what is the state of New York musicals” or anything like that. Instead, these are just some observations on the musicals** I did see, and a place where y’all can get your musical theater nerd on in the comments.

*London is second on that list, but there’s a pretty big gap between them.

**I anticipate dropping another piece on the five plays I saw later this week.

‘Camelot’ - Off a successful ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ adaptation, Aaron Sorkin leaned all the way back into his musical theater degree with a reworking of ‘Camelot.’ And look — ‘Camelot’ may be beloved by many, but objectively, it’s not a great show. It’s got some decent songs, but it has narrative and thematic issues. Sorkin’s updated book* tries to address some of these, but it’s ham-fisted, especially when the dialogue and narrative structure still have to cater to the overall song structure and their lyrical elements. Other changes work to varying degrees — the more typical Sorkinesque dialogue mostly works, while inexplicably removing magic (e.g., Morgan le Fay is now a scientist) does not.

*For those who don’t speak theater talk, a musical’s “book” is essentially the non-lyrical script.

Ultimately, ‘Camelot’ remains a flawed musical despite the Sorkin update, but this production has two positive aspects. First, there’s a big stage trend these days towards more minimalism, and this production walks the line of making things more minimal but not too minimal, and it mostly works — the production looks good. Second, Phillipa Soo (‘Hamilton,’ ‘Amélie, A New Musical’) always shines on stage, but here, her version of Guenevere is sexier and a lot more fun, and Soo shines.

@broadwaydirect We just had to…it’s May! #PhillipaSoo #Camelot #Broadway â™¬ original sound - Broadway Direct

It’s a bit surprising that she didn’t get a Tony nod, though the competition was fierce. Speaking of which …

‘Sweeney Todd’ — Bringing one of Sondheim’s classics back to the stage was an easier lift than ‘Camelot,’ but with a higher bar given how beloved this show is. Everything about this revival works. The staging is magnificent, and the orchestra and cast all shine (I cannot wait for the new cast album to release). Given that Sweeney is the title character, Josh Groban (‘Chess,’ ‘Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812’) has to carry a lot on his shoulders. He not only handles the songs with aplomb, but he is surprising in how well he carries both Todd’s broken spirit and complete menace.

Of course, it probably helps that much of his time on stage is with Annaleigh Ashford’s (‘You Can’t Take It With You,’ ‘Kinky Boots’) Mrs. Lovett because she is putting on the single most fun performance I’ve seen on stage in years. Ashford is always a boss, on stage, film, and screen, but to take a character that Dame Angela Lansbury made iconic and make it uniquely your own is no small task. This clip doesn’t remotely do her performance justice, but it’s a taste:

@broadwayplus Dying over this sneak peek of @annaleighashford as Mrs. Lovett in @sweeneytoddbway! â¤ï¸ðŸŽ¥: @cbssundaymorning #theatre #sweeneytodd #attendthetale #sweeneytoddbroadway #mrslovett #annaleighashford #joshgroban #sweeneybway â™¬ original sound - Broadway Plus

When this revival inevitably tours, it’ll still be great. But Ashford has set a high bar for whoever has to play this role on the road. She’s also given them a hell of a blueprint.

‘Parade’ - The last stop on our musical revival tour is ‘Parade.’ Set in the early 1900s, ‘Parade’ is based on the real-life trial and eventual lynching of Jewish Leo Frank in Georgia, with themes of racism, classism, antisemitism, and political corruption. So, you know, a real fun time show! While set over a hundred years ago, the show feels more relevant than I suspect it even did in its original 90’s run. Director Michael Arden and his collaborators give the show a modern “true crime documentary” feel which further roots this show’s modern relevancy. Despite the show’s heavy matter, though, it is mostly a blast. The lead role marks Ben Platt’s (‘Dear Evan Hansen’) return to stage, and I was curious whether he could wash off the stink of that overrated show and the disastrous 2021 film adaptation. He does, and quickly reminds us why he’s a Broadway star, with Micaela Diamond (‘The Cher Show’) and the rest of the cast more than holding their own, supported by great songs and staging. This is probably a harder show to tour than ‘Sweeney Todd,’ but I hope it does because we don’t often see shows that are both fun and important.

‘White Girl in Danger’ - This is Michael R. Jackson’s Off-Broadway (at the moment) follow-up to last year’s Tony-winning ‘A Strange Loop.’ That show was a wild passion project, a good twenty years in the making, that used a meta-look at Broadway and the creative process to explore issues of gender, sexuality, and race. Here, Jackson similarly uses a meta soap opera conceit to explore issues of … well, kinda the same. While both shows have similar bones, ‘White Girl…’ goes in very different directions in what it wants to dig into. The musical doesn’t feel ready for the big stage yet, as it’s both overstuffed and rough around the edges. But it is fun and thoughtful, with some catchy tunes, and it further cements Jackson as an important and likely significant Broadway voice for years to come.

‘Kimberly Akimbo’ - This was the show I was most excited to see, as the buzz has been wild ever since its Off-Broadway opening in late 2021. I can see why. This is another one that ostensibly could be a drag, telling the story of a teenage girl with a genetic condition that causes her to age fast, and likely not much past the age of 16. But it’s based on a 2001 play of the same name which is firmly a comedy, and that comedy shines through here. More so than a lot of shows, this one really hinges on its lead performance, not just because Victoria Clark (‘The Light in the Piazza,’ ‘Gigi’) has to carry songs and walk the fine line between her character’s humor and pathos, but because the 63-year-old actress has to make you believe that she’s internally a teenager while surrounded by a more age-appropriate cast. Clark pulls it off easily. The only reason Clark isn’t the best thing in this show is because of Bonnie Milligan (‘Head Over Heels’). I’m not sure I’ve seen someone own the stage like this since Daveed Diggs’ Jefferson pranced on stage. She is funny and charming and can belt some tunes: